Management as a Liberal Art Research Institute

Intersecting the Philosophy of Management as a Liberal Art with the Insights of Dan Solin

Robert Kirkland, Ph.D.

PUBLISHED:

April 27, 2024

For over a decade, Dan Solin's wisdom has shaped my understanding of management philosophy profoundly. Dan Solin, celebrated for his bestselling 'Smartest' series on investing and his widely read work 'The Smartest Sales Book You'll Ever Read' and 'Ask: How to Relate to Anyone', connects with readers weekly through his blog on Advisor Perspectives, drawing in a devoted audience. His background as a securities attorney, along with his academic path through Johns Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, underscores his expertise.


I've personally drawn a great deal from Solin's focus on the human side of business — it's redefined how I see leadership and the way we connect with others. He champions the idea that it's not just what we say but how we listen and empathize that forges strong relationships and drives successful enterprises. Solin's approach echoes the human-centric principles of Management as a Liberal Art (MLA), a concept promoted by Peter Drucker that suggests management is more art than science, calling for a profound engagement with personal relationships.


I am convinced that merging Solin's insights with the MLA philosophy can guide us toward more effective, reflective, and compassionate management methods. In the article that follows, I'll delve into how Solin's writings harmonize with MLA's values.



Emphasizing Human Interactions and Development


Both Drucker and Solin recognize the significance of human development and interactions within organizations. In Solin's work, the recurring theme is the emphasis on understanding and empathizing with others rather than simply imposing one's own viewpoints. A hallmark of Solin's philosophy is the power of asking questions. Moreover, Solin advises managers to guide change with empathy and understanding, acknowledging the impact on individuals.  This method aligns with MLA's view of management as an art that requires practice, reflection, and the pursuit of knowledge. By asking questions, managers can elicit deeper insights and foster a culture of curiosity and continuous learning, which is at the core of MLA.



Managing Change and Leading by Example


Dan Solin's forward-thinking approaches, especially his pioneering use of artificial intelligence for small businesses and financial advisors, aligns well with the ethos of Management as a Liberal Art (MLA). Solin offers practical, actionable advice, making complex technology approachable for his readers. Similarly, MLA, as conceptualized by Peter Drucker, stresses the importance of anticipating and navigating change — a skill ever so crucial in today's dynamic business landscape. Solin’s writing emphasizes the practical application of knowledge, resonating with Drucker's belief that true wisdom in management emerges from an integrated understanding of our experiences, leading with both discernment and insight.



Transdisciplinary Perspective and Holistic Understanding


Solin’s work on avoiding the heuristics trap and naïve realism echoes MLA's transdisciplinary perspective. Drucker believed that a manager should not rely solely on a single framework or heuristic but should integrate knowledge from various disciplines. Drucker's notion that management is both a liberal art and a practice suggests that effective managers blend empathy and analysis to make well-rounded decisions.  Solin's advocacy for a broad-based approach to understanding others reinforces this principle, highlighting the importance of a holistic understanding in management. 



Encouraging Self-Reflection and Growth


MLA posits that self-reflection and personal growth are central to effective management. Solin’s writings often touch on the benefits of self-awareness and the pursuit of personal development, paralleling the MLA belief in the necessity of continuous learning and the cultivation of self-knowledge for managers.  Solin's reflections on the impact of our actions and advice demonstrate an acute awareness of ethical responsibility—a key component of MLA. Solin emphasizes that financial advisors (as well as managers) should be cognizant of how their interactions affect their clients, teams, and the larger community, advocating for responsible action and ethical management in line with MLA’s ethos.



Conclusion


Dan Solin's writings provide a rich resource of present practical, everyday applications of the broader and more philosophical principles of Management as a Liberal Art. His focus on empathetic communication, ethical decision-making, and continuous personal and professional growth offers a nuanced take on the MLA framework, exemplifying how management is not just a business function but a holistic and humane pursuit.


Solin's work and Drucker’s MLA together provide a roadmap for managers who aspire to lead not only with competence but with wisdom, empathy, and a deep understanding of the multifaceted human experience within organizations. They teach us that to manage effectively is to navigate the delicate balance of advancing organizational goals while fostering an environment where individuals can pursue meaningful development and contribute to the larger societal good.




Selected Dan Solin Books


Ask:  How to Relate to Anyone.  Silvercloud Publishing LLC, 2020


The Smartest Sales Book You'll Ever Read: The Truth about Successful Selling.  SilverCloud Publishing, 2013

A Tribute to Charles Handy (1932-2024)

By Karen Linkletter Ph.D. • January 6, 2025
On December 13, 2024, we lost a seminal management philosopher and theorist: Charles Handy. Like Peter Drucker, Handy was a social thinker and management theorist who emphasized the human side of work as more important than profits and valued individual growth and development in organizations. Handy was born in Ireland and studied at Oxford. In 1956, he went to work for Shell, working in Borneo, where he met his future wife, Elizabeth Hill. Disillusioned by corporate life, Handy left Shell in 1962 to study management at MIT in their executive program. Inspired by their humanistic approach, he returned to London in 1967 to start the London Business School. Handy knew Drucker and was a regular keynote speaker at the Global Drucker Forum in Vienna. The two men had much in common in terms of their approaches to management and social theory. Like Drucker, Handy became an author (although, unlike Drucker, Handy was a corporate executive before he turned to writing). Handy wrote not just on business but also society, serving as much as a social ecologist as Drucker was. In his pivotal book, The Age of Unreason (1989), Handy argued for the disruption of discontinuity – resulting in a new world of business, education, and work that was highly unpredictable. He rejected shareholder capitalism and saw the organization as a place for human purpose and fulfillment, based on trust. Like Drucker, Handy advocated federalism in organizations, disseminating authority and responsibility to the lowest possible levels. He also saw “the future that had already happened.” Handy coined the term “portfolio life,” where knowledge workers would increasingly work remotely and for multiple organizations. In the 1980s, he posited that society consisted of “shamrock organizations”: those that had three integrated leaves: full-time employees, outside contractors, and temporary workers. Handy thus foresaw the new “gig economy” and increasingly autonomy of knowledge work. Finally, like Drucker, Handy had a life partner who not only supported his career but was an independent woman with her own interests. Liz Handy, like Doris Drucker, was an entrepreneur who ran an interior design business, and later was a professional photographer and Charles’s business agent.  Minglo Shao, founder of CIAM, remembers Handy as a warm man who made several important contributions to what we see as the fundamentals of Management as a Liberal Art. We are thankful for Handy’s contributions to management theory and social thought, and for his legacy at the Global Drucker Forum in the form of the Charles and Elizabeth Handy Lecture Series.

Treasures from the Charles Handy Drucker Forum legacy

By Richard and Ilse Straub with the Drucker Forum Team • December 29, 2024
For 15 years, Charles Handy did us the enormous honor of choosing the Drucker Forum as a privileged platform for delivering his message to the world, and particularly to the younger generation in which he had such faith. Following up on our initial announcement of Charles’ passing Charles Handy (1932–2024) , we are honored to share a selection of his key contributions to the Forum with our wider community. Charles’ brilliant keynotes at the Drucker Forum have become legendary. Normally accessible only to members of the Drucker Society, from today they are available as recordings to the wider public for a period of 30 days. At the first centennial Forum in 2009, Charles talked about his debt to Peter Drucker while outlining his own fundamental management concepts that he had developed over the years. Two years later, he touched on the ideas of Adam Smith and demonstrated how much more to them there was than the celebrated “invisible hand” of self-interest. In his landmark closing address in 2017, pursuing a thread developed in his 2015 book The Second Curve, he called for a management reformation that would turn it into a tool for the common good – thus drawing the first contours of what we would announce six years later as the Next Management . We took to heart his exhortation not to wait for great leaders but “to start small fires in the darkness, until they spread and the whole world is alight with a better vision of what we could do with our businesses”. Management’s "second curve" will be the focus of the “Charles and Elizabeth Handy Lecture Series” in 2025. Following the loss of his beloved wife Elizabeth in 2018 and a severe stroke, Charles was much reduced in mobility in his last years – but not in his determination to continue spreading his message of hope to the world. He couldn’t participate in person in the Drucker Forum 2022, but he participated in a moving online interview with his son Scott, who directed young actors in a short performance of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot by Beckett to illustrate some points.  Charles also contributed valued digital articles for our blog and for Drucker Forum partners. Even during the most difficult period of his life he continued to write and develop his ideas in weekly columns for the Idler magazine. This entailed first memorizing the article, then dictating it and finally reviewing it by having someone it re-read to him – a remarkable feat of memory and determination. The article is a jewel and most appropriate for Christmas and the season of self-reflection. Have a wonderful Christmas, happy holidays and a healthy and prosperous New Year.

The Future of Knowledge Work: What Drucker can teach us

By Karen Linkletter Ph.D. • November 19, 2024
Interview with Karen Linkletter at the 16th Global Peter Drucker Forum 2024  Video Interview
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